Three Secrets [Blu-ray]

Director: Robert Wise Robert Wise

Overview

Three Secrets is a darker variation on a theme first explored in A Letter to Three Wives (1949). There's only one survivor when a private plane crashes in the mountains of California. That survivor is a five-year-old boy, who hovers between life and death. As efforts continue to save the boy, three women -- Susan Chase (Eleanor Parker), Phyllis Horn (Patricia Neal) and Ann Lawrence (Ruth Roman) -- wait in agony. Years earlier, each of the three women had given up a baby son for adoption. Could it be that the little boy on the mountain top is actually the son of one of the three women? And if so, how many painful secrets will be revealed in the next few hours?

Product Details

Release Date:	10/16/2012
UPC:	0887090047005
Original Release:	1950
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:39:00
Sales rank:	22,184

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Eleanor Parker	Susan Chase
Patricia Neal	Phyllis Horn
Ruth Roman	Ann Lawrence
Frank Lovejoy	Bob Duffy
Leif Erickson	Bill Chase
Ted de Corsia	Del Prince
Edmon Ryan	Hardin
Larry Keating	Mark Harrison
Katherine Warren	Mrs. Connors
Arthur Franz	Paul Radin
Duncan Richardson	Johnny
David Buttolph	Composer

Technical Credits

Martin Rackin

Gina Kaus

Milton Sperling	Producer
Robert Wise	Director
Martin Rackin	Screenwriter
Gina Kaus	Screenwriter
Charles Lang	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Very clearly an attempt to duplicate the formula of the superior A Letter to Three Wives, Three Secrets is better enjoyed if one is unfamiliar with the earlier classic. The set-up in Wives is clever, but it's the brilliant execution that makes that film so memorable. In Secrets, the execution is pedestrian, and so it comes across as a gimmick. Without the exceptional writing talent, the piece comes across as excessively manipulative. It also feels forced dramatically, and the pieces don't fit together as seamlessly as they need to; one is aware of having to "stretch" one's credulity a number of times. Secrets works better than it should, however, because of a very capable cast and director, who work together to make the material seem better than it is. Director Robert Wise 's work overall is uneven; it comes in fits and starts during the main sections that detail the stories of the three women involved, finding beautiful moments here and there but missing a few surprising opportunities. However, he's at the top of his game when dealing with the more exciting sequences surrounding the search for the missing boy. The cast is quite good all around, with Patricia Neal perhaps the best of the three women. All of them, however, work hard to keep audience interest and to find new ways to play some soggy old scenes.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler